


I'm not Trespassing, I'm a Detective

by liestotheheart (liesunheardof)



Category: SEVENTEEN (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Detectives, Alternate Universe - Modern with Magic, Developing Relationship
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-05-14
Updated: 2018-10-16
Packaged: 2018-10-31 12:56:10
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 17
Words: 8,689
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10899786
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/liesunheardof/pseuds/liestotheheart
Summary: Joshua is just one of the many a detective, one that specializes in supernatural and almost fairytale like cases, as that's what the agency he works for specializes in. He's worked there quite some time solving case after case of magical and mystical things, but one particular case will turn his world upside down.Joshua brings a prince home.





	1. Kingdom of Roselium: A New Case

**Author's Note:**

> drabble work. I didn't want to write a full story so I'm writing this in drabbles. They're all connected and will belong in the same universe. There will be a relationship later on in the story. It will be jihan, but for the first couple of chapters there are none. 
> 
> this work was inspired by a set of games called the Dark Parables. I play them and well it's fun. Parts of the story will mimic the games if you ever seen them so I will be using some things. Not everything but parts. Like the fairytale detective is from them.

Joshua pushed through the overhanging of leaves to peer through. There was the castle. How was he going to get across he mused? It was clear that whatever was affecting the surrounding areas was emanating from the castle. The case details only told him the history behind the place and what was happening. As always, his job was to find the source of the problem, in this case what was making the surrounding areas be overrun with thorned vines and get rid of it.

All the clues he had gotten from the agency told him to head to the castle and find out there. It was a curious case as the Kingdom Roselium had just fallen off the face of the Earth thirty years only to return. No doubt the castle’s reappearance was the cause of vines taking over the areas. But the issue was getting in and getting rid of whatever was causing it.

He was on a deadline. A very short deadline. One week before the entire area and the nearest city would be consumed. Joshua had to work fast.

* * *

Slowly he rappelled down the cliff, making use of his climbing equipment. Pity he had to leave it here. He sighed as he looked up and turned towards the castle. It wasn't going to be easy given the look of castle ruins. Joshua perused the dead garden. Time to get dirty.


	2. Kingdom of Roselium: Warnings

He tore off his now ruined gloves and sighed. Joshua didn’t even want to count the number of gloves he ruined on cases like these. Hundreds. Thousands. Why did castles and ruins have to be filled with icky shit or shit that would cut open his hands?

These thorns however. They were deadly. Even just by looking at them Joshua could tell there was something magical about them. Meaning the whole reason for the infestation was magical. Shuddering Joshua whipped his head around, eyes catching a raven. He narrowed his eyes as the raven’s beady eyes glinted at him.

Slowly, he bent down and picked up a small rock. As quick as a whip, he threw it at the raven hitting it dead on. It let out a squawk before disappearing into wisps. Growling Joshua said, “Magic. I’m being watched by someone. The source of the vines?”

Whatever or whoever it was that was watching him was going to be in for a rude awakening. Joshua had never failed at solving a case and this one would be no different. He hauled his backpack on and moved towards the gate.

Staring down at his hands he saw that the pieces that he found in the bushes were a perfect fit for the missing areas in the gate’s semi-ruined crest. Time to solve a puzzle.

* * *

He smirked as the gates clicked and swung inwards. No ancient puzzle or contraption had stumped him in his five year career. This old ruined castle was going to be no different. Not when he solved three-hundred-year-old contraptions before.

Joshua stepped through the gates only to be confronted with an inner garden and statues of the Royal family. The king and the queen, their son, Crown Prince Jeonghan, and their only daughter Princess Jungah. When the kingdom disappeared so had the Royal family, maybe if Joshua was lucky he’d find out what happened to them while he was here.

Seeing a statue form of them didn’t do them justice. Not when he had scene photos of portraits of them. They were all rather attractive. Prince Jeonghan especially if he was being honest. He rarely swayed towards men but there was something about the prince’s eyes even from the photo that stilled his heart. It was odd.

But not as odd as this whole situation. A kingdom risen from the ruins. Thorned vines overrunning the area and into the city soon.

No case came easy but Joshua could feel that this one was going to seriously give him grief. Walking past the statues he heard a whisper, “Be careful detective. Watch out for the witch.”

“Who’s there?” Joshua shouted, quickly looking around. He opened his eyes wide, looking through the area but he saw nothing. Not one soul and not one bird. But that voice. Who called out to him warning him of a witch?


	3. Who Needs Doors When you Have Sledgehammers

Ducking underneath a dusty, ragged curtain he stared at the wall. Door more like actually now that he thought about it. He went around the curtain again, except this time he grabbed the edges and yanked, tearing it down. Joshua backpedaled a bit as the rod the curtain was on fell.

The castle was just full of old, dusty things and he knew he wasn’t anywhere he needed to be yet. What little he managed to find in the gardens and the outer foyer weren’t enough to tell him anything besides it was cursed. No sign of who or what. And no sign on the whereabouts of the Royal family.

Joshua had scraps of paper of short sentences that told of the vines overrunning the castle from personal diaries but not enough to see if they were confined here by their own accord or because something was keeping them here. It was confusing as he had some but not enough evidence to go off of.

He stared at the door. There was a crack. Stooping down, Joshua peeked through. A hallway with rooms. He tsked as the hole was too small for anything other than seeing straight and a bit to the sides. The hole was also too small for him to stick his hand in and open the door from the other side. It also had the luck of being too far from the knob for his original idea to work.

“Damn,” he muttered. Pressing his hands against the door, Joshua tried feeling for any hidden openings, cracks, or contraptions that would allow him to open the damn thing. He sighed after ten minutes coming up with nothing.

It wasn’t like he had the ingredients to make a makeshift bomb. Otherwise that would’ve done the trick. He stood there for a few minutes before a lightbulb went off in his head. The old shed in the garden had a sledgehammer. Joshua would break the door down.

* * *

Staring at the door, Joshua calculated which areas would break away easily first. His best bet was to start near the small hole. Carefully he hefted the sledgehammer up and swung. The door cracked and he turned his head as chunks of wood flew. Taking it out he swung back with force, and brought it forward letting gravity do the rest. This time a huge chunk broke off. A big enough one that would allow him to get through without opening the door.

“Yes.” He smiled. Pity he couldn’t take the sledgehammer with him. It would come in handy no doubt, but it was simply too heavy to lug around the whole time. He propped it up against the wall before crouching down and moving through the hole.

Shaking off any stray wood pieces he stood up and stopped. His heart lurched. The hole hadn’t been large enough for him to see much, but this was huge. Down the hallway was a large rotunda and in the middle, facing him was yet another statue of the crown price with a sword pointing down Joshua’s way. Was it trying to tell him something?


	4. Freaking Monsters

Joshua breathed out slowly, trying to regulate his heartbeat once again. Statues were everywhere in the castle but freaking hell why was one of the crown prince right there?! These royals.

He moved to the side table, examining the papers and some other interesting pieces. He picked them up. No doubt they'd be useful later on. They always tended to be. Although sometimes he just went home after a case solved and wrapped up with a pretty little trinket. He had a whole bookcase in his study dedicated to them.

Looking around he saw nothing but doors. So many doors. He moved to the nearest one, turning the handle. Hearing nothing but a click and that didn’t go through, sighing he rummaged through his bag. He did pick up a key on the table after sifting through the bowl of things. Putting it in he turned it, then he tried the handle once more. Thankfully is opened, swinging one door to reveal a study.

He coughed at the dust, breathing through his jacket. He needed to crack open a window. Walking in he noted the important places, the fireplace, the painting on the mantle, the desk, and the bookshelf. Those places would need more investigating. But for now, a window.

* * *

Joshua rifled through the desk, hitting jackpot as he found a diary and a blueprint of the original castle. He sat down on the chair, cracking open the diary. He read through, catching all the details and the worries the owner left. It was a man that much was clear. The king or the crown prince? As he reached the last entry he jumped up. It mentioned something important being left at the statues in the middle of the hallway that led up to the throne room.

He strode through the hallway noting the rooms that would need a key or the ones that would open with something harder like a puzzle. Entering the rotund room, he climbed the marble and started inspecting the statues. Something was here. But which one.

He was so lost in touching the statues and looking at them he didn’t see the monster until he heard the loud screech. He nearly jumped out of his skin as he took in the large spider. And when he said large, Joshua meant fucking monstrous. What the fuck was it doing here?

It started coming down the pathway that led from a secluded inner sanctum of sorts. Joshua looked around quickly, hoping to find a weapon. He always forgot to bring a gun. But those things never worked on magical things anyhow. He started to frantically push at the statues. A scrap of paper mentioned that there was a mechanism to bring down the gate at the inner sanctum in times of emergency. And if there was one now was the time!

He grabbed onto the crown prince’s statue, pushing down on the arm that carried the sword. Miraculously a gate started coming crashing down. It stopped the monster spider as it could no longer come out. But it also meant that Joshua couldn’t go any further.

He shuddered looking at its long legs and venomous dripping teeth. Freaking monsters.


	5. Burn Baby Burn

Joshua stared at the damn spider for a few minutes before going back to inspecting the statues. None of them seemed to have anything, but he stopped in front of the crown prince’s statue. Remembering that pushing his arm down activated the door he started to look more closely. As he circled he looked at every little cranny until he got back in front.

The sun decided to make itself known through the stained glass, glaring down at him. But it was at that moment something glinted in his eyes. He looked. There was something down the statue’s jacket. In the hollow where the jacket closed, something was there.

Joshua rifled through his bag for a knitting needle. It was an odd tool but given the slimness and the fact that it was metal it had its uses. Like right now. Sticking it down the hollow, he fished for the glimmering object, shouting out a small, “Yes.”

Lifting it Joshua saw a necklace. One with a medium sized rose pendant, the symbol of the kingdom. Considering that the prince hid it in here, no doubt it’d have its uses later on. Joshua pulled it over his head, tucking it into his shirt. Better to keep it close than to have to get lost if his bag was suddenly snagged. Too many of those experiences taught Joshua better.

To deal with the spider now. He eyed it distastefully. Ugly thing. If only it squished as easily as small ones. Pity he couldn’t burn it.

Wait. Burn it. A gleeful smile came onto his face.

* * *

Taking the bucket of oil, he splashed it liberally around the spider and on it, running after it started to shriek. From the dais of the statues he lit a match. Smiling, he threw it on the oil, quickly hiding behind the statue of the crown prince once more.

He heard an inhuman screech as the thing most likely caught fire. Peeking from the statue’s shoulder, he grinned as the spider burned. When in doubt, do as Soonyoung would always do. Burn shit down.


	6. The Throne Room

The throne room was impressive to say the least. And Joshua had seen a lot of throne rooms in his career. Some littered with skeletons, others littered with disgusting bugs. This one was littered with fucking thorns. Good god. Was this the Sleeping Beauty curse? If so who was under it? The princess? The crown prince?

Joshua growled in frustration as he hacked away at the vines with a borrowed sword from the armory. This. Was. So. Damn. Annoying. Stepping on the floor, Joshua started to stumble on a what was likely a crack. 

He rolled his body, not wanting to get scratched by the thorns and possibly getting an eye poked out. Luckily, he stumbled into one of the chairs that the royal family sat on. “Shit,” he groaned. He thunked his head against the backing. “This is one of the most frustrating cases ever.”

Hitting his head once again, he let out a cry of pain. “The hell?” Turning his head, he saw an empty indentation. “Oh,” he said quietly.

His fingers brushed over the empty indentation shaped like a rose. “Where will you lead me if I put what’s lost back here?”

“To the source,” a voice whispered in his ears.

He shivered. He knew deep down that it wasn’t an evil presence. At least he thought it wasn’t. Sometimes they were tricky enough to fool even him. “The source huh?” Fuck it all. Joshua would take the damn risk. Now where was the missing stone rose?

* * *

Joshua smiled triumphantly. Slotting it in, he prayed the ceiling wouldn’t fall on him like others had. He needed this to lead him to the source. He was running out of time and the city was depending on him.

He readied himself as he heard gears start to move. Sword and gun out, he waited in his fighting stance.

But nothing menacing happened. Bricks started to move against the wall that Joshua couldn’t hack his way through, the vines breaking away as they moved to reveal a staircase.

Joshua slowly lowered his gun. Thank the goddess of this land. He was finally getting somewhere.

Holstering the gun, he started towards the stairs. Now, to find the source and stop it.


	7. Sleeping Beauty?

Joshua seriously hated assignments that were hard. Granted all of them had their hard parts but this one was trying to kill him. He had to dodge a falling brick, jump steps as they fell from underneath him, and nearly got poisoned from a snake that was likely put in the area leading to the tower room to stop people in their tracks. He needed a vacation after this. A long one.

Slowly moving the piece into place, Joshua waited to hear that tell-tale click of the door unlocking. Time to face the music, or the person at the center of the curse. All Joshua had managed to glean from books and scribbles journals was that someone had been jealous. Either over who the crown prince was going to marry or because of who he had been flirting with at the time. A case of jealously gone deadly wrong, so Joshua assumed.

He pushed the door open, covering his mouth with his sleeves, gun aimed out. Anything old was either dusty or falling apart, and Joshua thanked the stars he never had allergies or he’d be useless in this line of work.

The room was round, to match the tower no doubt. It was in nice condition. Too good of a condition, as if it was suspended in time, unlike the other areas of the castle. He had a bad feeling about this. It was too fresh, too still. Gritting his teeth, he moved forward, making sure not to step on anything suspicious lest he accidentally set of a trap if there was one. The source of this curse was sleeping in that bed. Time to wake up sleeping beauty.

If only there wasn’t a magical barrier around said bed. “Fuck.” He sighed. “I’m so over this.”

Joshua started looking around the floor, hoping to see a trigger or something that would make it drop. It wasn’t as if he brought magic breaking bullets. Those were special equipment that the agency didn’t give out all wily nilly, even if it would helpful right about now.

“Thank goodness.” It was a barrier carved into the stone bricks that made up the floor around the bed. Something easily taken care of. 

Moving over he took that lovely shovel he found from the antechamber and forcefully hit one of the semi cracked stones. Once, twice, a third time and it broke, dropping the barrier.

Now all Joshua could hope was that the person who was causing this was still alive and not some skeleton.  Bracing himself he pushed back the curtains, only to let out a noise of surprise.


	8. Awoken With a Kiss

It wasn’t so much a sleeping beauty as it was a sleeping prince, albeit a handsome one. A very handsome one and going by the journals one that didn’t know how to stop flirting. No wonder why he was the subject of the curse and not his sister. Joshua snorted.

“Now how do I wake you up,” he muttered. “A kiss?” Joshua laughed. It would be too much if the crown prince was woken up with a kiss. A magic spell maybe? Did he see one in the library?

He felt a shiver run up his spine. Ducking, he hid behind the curtains. That feeling of being watched was back. Did the person who put the magic barrier up feel when it was destroyed? Shit.

Shuffling around the edges of the bed, he crawled up, trying to shake the prince awake. As he touched him however, another barrier erected itself. Instead of rejecting Joshua, it enveloped him as well. What in the world?

Joshua shuffled over him, making sure the prince was breathing. Honestly, he should’ve checked that first but he had forgotten. He touched the pulse point on his wrist lightly, waiting to feel the tiny little beats. He relaxed as he felt them. Moving closer to the other man’s face, Joshua started to look for something that perhaps put him to sleep.

But as moved to check Jeonghan’s collar his boot caught on the sheets and he tumbled forward, his upper lip catching on the prince’s lower lip. Quickly, Joshua pushed away from Jeonghan, sitting back on his haunches.

Jeonghan’s lashes started to flutter.

Oh lord. He was starting to wake up. Joshua’s accidental kiss was making him wake up. Shit.


	9. Tower Escape

Jeonghan slowly opened his eyes, while Joshua freaked out internally. What the hell was he going to do with a prince that just woke up? He didn’t even know who the hell started this curse yet. Hell. He could barely protect himself from the onslaught of deadly things and magic. How was he supposed to protect a prince? Inching backwards, he tripped again on the damn sheets, landing on his ass while Jeonghan woke up.

“Shit.” His voice cracked. “Why the hell is my throat so dry?” He let out a small groan, lifting himself on his elbows.

Quickly, Joshua moved forward putting a finger to Jeonghan’s lips. “Shh,” he hissed, “I somehow managed to wake you up but you need to be quiet. Whoever put you under the curse is watching us. Or was watching me.”

He nodded. Leaning closer, putting almost no space in between them, Jeonghan whispered. “It’s nice to finally see you in the flesh detective. I’m glad you got here in time.”

Joshua blinked, shocked at just how close they were and shocked at how he recognized the voice. “You’re the voice…” he said trailing off.

Smiling, Jeonghan nodded. “I am. Thank you for waking me up. But we have a witch to beat still.”

Joshua started to scramble. “That stupid crow is watching still. We need to go.” Dragging Jeonghan with him towards the door, he stopped as he heard a menacing voice. Fuck.

Ignoring the fact that Jeonghan had somehow wrapped his arms around Joshua’s waist, he turned around, clenching his teeth. Shit.

She stood in the doorway, almost like a specter. Except she wore robes and emitted that ugly aura of black magic. “Where do you think you’re going with my fiancé?”

Fiancé? She must mean Jeonghan. She was the one who cursed the prince and now Joshua was also in the strike zone. Shit.

“I was never your fiancé to begin with Hana,” Jeonghan answered her. “You were the only one who thought we were.”

Vibrating in anger, she moved towards them. Joshua shuffled backwards. The only other way out was through the window. Fuck.

“You were promised to me!” She snapped at him, eyes glowing an unnatural green color.

Jeonghan shook his head. “I choose who I marry. Not my family. Not your family and certainly not you.” He started reaching into Joshua’s shirt, which freaked him the hell out. “In fact,” taking out the necklace still around Joshua’s neck, that he had found in Jeonghan’s statue, “the one who wears this pendant, and isn’t rejected by the magic within, is the one who I marry. Family tradition and all.” He said it so blithely. Like the one with the dark magic who cursed him to an eternal sleep and was devastating the area around them wasn’t right in front of them.

Oh shit. Oh dear. Fuck fuck fuck.

She screamed at them, the walls of the tower shaking.

And that was their cue to leave the tower, retreat until they figured out what to do next. Grabbing onto Jeonghan, Joshua ran to the window ledge and launched them out of the window. Jeonghan wrapped his arms around Joshua, and Joshua prayed that the water below was monster free and deep enough to not kill them.


	10. Come With me

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> and the jihan gets super strong now ^^

Joshua braced himself as he hit the water, back first. Jeonghan’s weight pushed him further into the thankfully clean water. The two of them swam towards the surface; Joshua quickly maneuvering them to the far side so she wouldn’t spot them.

Jeonghan got out of the water first, grabbing Joshua by the forearm and hauling him up. Placing his finger to his lips, he gestured with his head towards the forest Joshua hadn’t looked at. Joshua nodded. Jeonghan took him by the hand and they ran toward the trees.

Walking underneath the trees, ducking branches, Joshua hissed at the prince, trying to yank his hand free. “What the hell is this about you marrying me? I haven’t seen anything about this pendant of yours choosing the one you marry.”

The man had the nerve to laugh, holding tight to Joshua. “A bit of deception on my part. I’m sorry. It doesn’t choose who I marry. But it does reject those without good intentions.”

He smiled at Joshua, a charming one, Joshua noted. No wonder the girls went wild over him.

“You have a good heart detective.” He yanked Joshua to him a bit more, lifted his hand and kissed the top of it.

Joshua blushed, hissing like a cat, trying to pull away to no avail. It wasn’t charming enough to make Joshua forget about how the prince almost got him killed. “The name’s Joshua, _your highness_.” Joshua ducked under a branch, sorely tempted to yank it back and smack the prince in the head with it. Deception. Was he fucking crazy? Joshua was about to be a smear on the damn tower walls for his _deception_. “And where exactly are we going?” He pulled once again, groaning internally at just how hard the prince was holding his hand. For someone who just woke up from a rather long sleep he was strong. Joshua would need to work out more when he finished this case.

“Somewhere that will lead us back into the castle. Underground it. We’ll find something that will help us defeat Hana there.” Jeonghan hummed, “Is something wrong Joshua? You keep trying to pull away from me.”

“There’s no reason to hold hands anymore,” Joshua growled. “And you lied to the crazy in love with you woman who cursed you into an eternal sleep that I was your fiancé. She was going to kill me. I’m a regular human _your highness_ , I don’t have any protections against magic as a whole. So, forgive me if I don’t care to be holding hands with you,” he snapped.

Jeonghan pulled them to a halt, turning Joshua around forcefully. “I’m sorry for that. It was to throw her off.”

Joshua blinked. He looked sincere.

“It’s not as if I would mind though if you were my fiancé. You’re quite cute,” Jeonghan said with a mischievous gleam in his eyes.

And that killed any of Joshua’s feelings on forgiving him. Reading all those tidbits about the prince made Joshua realize that he just wasn’t going to change this flirty attitude. He sighed. “Whatever. Now, give me back my hand.”

Jeonghan smiled and let it go. For now. The detective was really cute. He’d have to ask him out on a date after this was all done.


	11. Magic Helps Heaps as do Gods and Goddesses

Still fuming a bit, Joshua followed behind Jeonghan silently. Maybe after he got over almost being smeared against the tower walls he’d actually speak to the guy. Until then he’d keep his mouth shut.

“That necklace,” Jeonghan said, ducking under yet another branch, “will be the key to help us take Hana down. I’m rather thankful you managed to find it and that it accepted you.” He sent a smile Joshua’s way. “Have I thanked you for waking me up yet?”

“You have,” Joshua snapped. “It’s my job. No need to thank me.” No one ever said that Joshua didn’t know how to hold a grudge. He was petty that way. He had a good reason to be anyhow.

Jeonghan’s smile never faltered.

Joshua grimaced back at him. “How much longer?”

“I really am sorry,” Jeonghan said, once again staring into Joshua’s eyes. Blinking softly, Jeonghan’s lashes slowly hit the top of his cheeks, a pretty picture to match the prince’s handsome face. But it wouldn’t sway Joshua.

Calmly, keeping his voice steady, “You don’t get to play with other people’s lives just because you’re a prince, _your highness_ ,” he spat. “Think about other’s before you go try playing god.” He turned away and stopped dead.

Getting a good long look at the huge stone doors sticking out in between a huge tree, he said softly, “I guess this is what we’re looking for.”

* * *

Jeonghan had been the one to get them through the doors. The prince knew his stuff it seemed. Joshua followed him as Jeonghan got them to the center of the room.

In the middle there was a dais, and suspended in that dais was a wand. A magical one. It reeked of magic.

“Here is where I’ll need that necklace.” Jeonghan turned to Joshua, hands going towards the chain. “May I?”

Joshua lowered his head, allowing Jeonghan to take the chain away.

He pressed the pendant into an indentation and slowly the glass around the wand lowered, leaving the wand open for the taking. But Jeonghan didn’t take it. “The wand is for you,” he said, looking over to Joshua’s confused face. “The wand can only be wielded by the one who has the necklace.”

“But it used to be yours,” Joshua protested.

“That’s where you’re wrong,” he explained, “I had it yes. But it was given to me in a box and then I simply dropped the necklace into my statue. It was never mine. It chose you and so the wand is yours.”

“And what are you going to have then to defend yourself.” Joshua wasn’t about to take the only weapon and leave the prince defenseless.

“My sword,” Jeonghan answered with a huge grin. “It’s here too. We’ll get it and confront Hana.”

“Isn’t it just a sword? What could be so special about it?” Joshua eyes were nearly bugging out. Did the prince think that because it was his sword it’d be good enough?

Jeonghan laughed. “It’s been blessed by the goddess Roselia. It’ll be just fine. It was a present from her.” He waved his hand towards the wand. “Now let’s arm ourselves and save the kingdom.”


	12. An Explosion of Color

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> so the beginging arc is now done! there will be more but it'll be more on developing their relationship and on their life

Joshua tried to calm his heart down. The two of them were walking towards the throne room from the garden. Joshua would say that he was surprised the castle had underground passages but he wasn’t. He was simply surprised that there was one to the damn garden.

Feeling a hand interlock with his, he turned to the side and looked at Jeonghan.

“Calm down Joshua.” He flashed a comforting smile. Well it looked like one. It just didn’t comfort Joshua at all. “You’ve done this before I’m sure.”

“I have,” Joshua said, trying to tug his hand away. He kept getting fluttery feelings in his stomach, that was not butterflies thank you very much. It was probably his nerves. “I rarely have to beat the person behind the evil plan with someone else though. I’m not sure if I can watch over you too.”

Jeonghan simply chuckled. “No need to worry about me. I can hold my own. You didn’t see books in the library about me?”

Joshua snorted. “I found snippets of journals on how you were a giant flirt and a playboy. Hardly anything on your prowess on the sword fighting field.”

Jeonghan pulled an indignant face. Clearly, he wasn’t happy on being painted as playboy, even if Joshua could tell he was one. “I’m good at it,” he said, “I won’t hold you back.”

“I hope so,” Joshua said. “I wouldn’t be doing my job if I let you get hurt after I woke you up.”

* * *

Joshua dodged a weird black magic ball aimed at him. Hiding behind a piece of rock, he winced as he saw Jeonghan struggling a bit with the magicked armor suit that he was fighting.

Why wasn’t the wand working at full potential? Did it need something extra that Jeonghan didn’t know of? Joshua ducked as a piece of the rock he was hiding behind flew away. Fuck. He needed to figure this out fast.

Almost frantically he ran his fingers down it, trying to feel for any indentations that were empty. His eyes lit up as he hit the bottom. There. A perfect size for the pendant. He slid it in place, feeling the wand vibrate with power.

“Come out detective,” Hana purred, “I need to kill you so I can become Jeonghan’s fiancé.”

Joshua smirked, standing up. “Here’s the funny thing,” holding the wand up, he braced himself, “I was never his fiancé. He lied to you. But that doesn’t matter now. Bye bye Hana. I hope you find some peace in the afterlife.”

The wand finished powering up, firing a rainbow ball of all things, at Hana. She tried to negate it with her own magic but it smashed through her own little ball, hitting her directly.

For one second, Joshua could’ve sworn he saw the image of the Goddess Roselia before the rainbow ball hit Hana. He blinked; Hana exploding into nothing but colors.

He heard a huge clank to the side. The suited armor fell, the magic that controlled it gone with Hana.

“Isn’t that a pretty sight,” Jeonghan murmured.

“A bit morbid though,” Joshua remarked, wand held loosely in his hand.

“But necessary,” a voice called out.

“Goddess,” Jeonghan said in a reverent tone. He kneeled on one knee.

“No need for that crown prince,” she said. “May I?” She held out her hand towards Joshua, smiling at him.

“Oh. Yea,” Joshua replied, scrambling, “I have no use for the wand.”

She took it from him, moving to large hole in the walls that overlooked the kingdom. With one wave, the thorns that were plaguing the town and the kingdom started to disinergrate.

“Good job detective. Thank you for saving the kingdom.” She smiled a motherly sort of smile at Joshua.

He blushed, being praised by the local gods and goddesses were always sort of weird for him. “It’s no big deal. Just doing my job.”

“The kingdom is ruined,” she said, turning away from Joshua to look at Jeonghan. “What shall you do Jeonghan?”

Jeonghan smiled at her. “I thought I’d go with the detective. A new beginning. There’s nothing left here anyhow,” he said. It was tinged with sadness, no doubt for his dead family, the way his kingdom fell.

Joshua stared at him. It was brave, strong of him even to get up so quickly and move on. It had been almost a hundred of years since he fell asleep and he woke up to this sort of life, no one from his past to help him.

“Your future is bright. Filled with adventure and love.” She gave him sweet smile. “Good luck.” She turned to Joshua. “I’ll take care of the rest of the cleanup, no need to worry detective. Take care. Your future will be fun as well.” Walking away from the two of them, she shimmered, disappearing to take care of the rest of the thorned vines.

Sighing, Joshua dusted off his jeans. He held out a hand to Jeonghan. “Come on then. Time to go home.”

Jeonghan laced his fingers with Joshua’s, smiling a bit at the blush that rose to his Joshua’s cheeks. Home. His old home was destroyed. But maybe if he was lucky, Joshua would let him make his new home with him.  “Yes. Home.”


	13. Home? : Stray

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And so we begin another arc. Time for some fluff and relationship developing, after this chapter

“Detective,” she said, looking at Joshua with her eyes just a bit over her glasses. “The crown prince of Roselium is requesting asylum.”

“His kingdom is, as I reported, in ruins. Everyone is dead. There’s nothing left for him there. The goddess Roselia herself said so. He decided to come back with me.” What else was there left for Joshua to say? That the prince seemed to have a romantic interest in Joshua. That despite all of his bravado he seemed so unsure and scared and it reminded Joshua too much of his dog he adopted on another case.

She sighed. “The problem with saving parts of the world is that we always have displaced people. Oh well. Get him to the DH unit then.”

Joshua stood half way up, hands on the chair arms. “About my request?”

“Approved. You’ve been on too many cases without taking a vacation and we don’t want a burn out again. Enjoy your time off.”

Joshua nodded. “Thank you, ma’am.”

“One more thing,” she said, smiling at Joshua in that proud parent sort of way, “good job.”

He bowed shallowly and left.

* * *

Walking down the hall, he was joined by Soonyoung. “Hey,” he said, “I’m surprised you brought back another stray.”

“Jeonghan isn’t a stray,” Joshua protested, “he’s a displaced prince. Jun brought one back.”

Soonyoung laughed, clutching at Joshua’s shoulder. “Princes are strays when you bring them back to the agency looking a bit sad and unsure about what to do.”

“Well,” Joshua huffed, “I’m taking him to the DH unit and they can help him get on his feet and be a working person in society. Most likely here at the agency helping us like others have.”

But Soonyoung wouldn’t let up. He took the chance to tease Joshua, something he did rarely. He was nice like that. But not today. “Did he remind you of Blue? He looked a bit like your dog when you brought him in like a lost puppy.”

“That’d be Mingyu,” Joshua deadpanned, waiting for Soonyoung to stop laughing at the joke before he continued, “and no. He needed help and it’s our job.”

“He’s hot. Better keep him away from all the singles in our agency. They love the idea of being married to a prince,” Soonyoung warned, waving his hand about. He shuddered as he remembered the slight crazed gleaming in some of their eyes when Jun brought back Wonwoo.

Scoffing, Joshua pulled Soonyoung along. If he let the other man stand there he’d get hit sooner or later by researchers who had their nose buried in their books. “They think that because they’re a prince they’ll be a princess when they marry them. Problem is that most of the kingdoms are gone.”

“And what about the prince you brought back?”

“If he had lots of money, which I guess he would know where to find it in that ruined castle of his and time. He’d probably be able to bring his kingdom back from ruins.” Joshua sighed, shaking his head, “I don’t think he wants to though.” Hand on the door to the department, Joshua paused, “It doesn’t matter anyhow. What he wants to do is what he wants to do.”

Soonyoung nodded. He wasn’t going to say shit about the way Jeonghan had looked at Joshua as he had told Jeonghan to sit there and stay while Joshua went through debriefing. There was no way the prince was going to leave unless Joshua wanted to go back with him. But that was a secret he’d keep to himself.


	14. Home? Ch 2: Home is Where you are

Joshua gave Jeonghan a small smile. “C’mon,” he said, tilting his head towards the door, “let’s get to the DH unit. A bit of paperwork and we’ll have you situated in no time.”

Jeonghan looked sort of, sad, sitting there in his borrowed clothes. His own were taken to be examined and then discarded if they couldn’t be cleaned. Unless the prince requested them back. They were old and a bit musty, but Jeonghan might want them back simply for pure attachments sake. He didn’t look odd wearing a black fitted t-shirt and pants; he looked nice, but it weirded Joshua out a bit. He must’ve been too used to seeing Jeonghan in his princely get up.

Nodding, Jeonghan got up, following Joshua. A bit like a puppy even. Oh lord. If he started to compare Jeonghan to a puppy he’d want to take Jeonghan home with him like he did Blue. No. He had no use for a flirty ass prince.

He pushed the door open. “Hey. Got another one for you,” Joshua said to Seungkwan.

“The Prince of Roselium?” Seungkwan pushed up his fake glasses with a grin.

“Yea,” Joshua answered. “Crown Prince Jeonghan.”

Jeonghan bowed. “Pleased to make your acquaintance.”

Seungkwan beamed. “I love princes. Their manners are so impeccable. Unlike certain other people,” he muttered near the end.

Joshua snorted. “Vernon’s polite. Just a bit too used to dismissing people.”

“Whatever,” Seungkwan said. “Now let’s see who’s willing to take a prince in for now.” He started to flip through his papers and folders, humming and shaking his head. “No, not them. Definitely not. Oh lord no. Maybe. This one perhaps.” He kept up his muttering.

Jeonghan turned to look at Joshua. “I’m not living with you?”

Joshua blinked his eyes, surprise shocking him. “What?”

“I thought you said we were going home. As in I’d be going home with you,” Jeonghan said, the hurt in his eyes shining through.

Sputtering, Joshua explained. “I don’t. I can’t. I’m on vacation. And I didn’t—“

“It’d work though,” Seungkwan pointed out, interrupting Joshua. “He knows you and you are on vacation. You can help him out and once he’s ready he’d leave your place and start work.”

“But I’m on vacation,” Joshua protested.

“Which makes it perfect,” Seungkwan said, nodding. He grabbed a file, flipped it open, and stamped it. “And you’re all ready to go. One prince residing with Detective Joshua Hong.”

* * *

 

Joshua sighed, pushing the door to his home open. “Well here we are. Nothing as grand as castle but it’s home.”

Jeonghan hummed. “It’s plenty nice Joshua. My castle is a pile of rubble anyhow,” he laughed.

“I’ll show you around the house tomorrow. All you need to know is the bathroom here,” pointing to the door with the toilet, “and your room for now here.” He opened a door, a blue themed guest room. “I’m too tired to do much so we’ll order take out and then sleep. There’s plenty of things to do tomorrow.”

* * *

 

Joshua trashed the empty cartons, sticking the leftovers in the fridge. Shuffling down the hallway, he led Jeonghan to his room. “Night,” he said yawning.

Jeonghan smiled at him. “Thank you for letting me stay with you.”

Pulling a face, Joshua grimaced. “I wasn’t given much choice but I’ll deal with it.”

“Home,” Jeonghan said softly, “for me, is where you are.”

“What?!” Blood rushed to Joshua’s head. What the hell was he talking about?

“I felt something when I woke up. Something about you,” Jeonghan replied, that smile secretive smile spreading on his face. “You are the key to my future Joshua. Whether or not you believe so.”


	15. Welcome to my Life

Joshua woke up with a yawn and a nice long stretch. It had been too damn long since he took a vacation. Although with Jeonghan here now it was less like a complete vacation. He just had to deal with it. Leaning on his bent knee, Joshua sighed. He just didn’t know how to deal with the guy’s flirting.

He wasn’t going to lie; the flirting was extremely flattering. But he what was he going to do with it. It wasn’t like they could feasibly go anywhere. And the way Jeonghan looked at him sometimes. They had barely spent a full day with each other but Jeonghan acted too much like he was in love. it wasn’t right. Well more like Joshua didn’t believe in love at first sight. That’s why it wasn’t right. Not to him anyhow.

For all Joshua worked with magic, fairy tales, and fantastical beasts, he never believed in that one cliché of love at first sight. “Ughhh,” he groaned. He shook his hair, running his fingers through it. “Doesn’t matter,” he muttered. “I need to get Blue and drop Jeonghan off at the office so they can start his lessons.”

Shuffling out of bed, he went to wake Jeonghan up. He had a lot of learn before he could start being a working member of society. The quicker the better. Maybe Jeonghan would set his sights on someone else.

* * *

 

Joshua stumbled on Jeonghan at the balcony overlooking the ocean. “You’re awake.”

“Mmm,” he hummed. “It was odd to go to bed and then actually wake up.” His lips thinned, “I was almost afraid that I wasn’t going to wake up and that yesterday was all a dream and I’d be swimming in my own consciousness.”

“You were awake?” That sounded absolutely nuts. And enough to make one go crazy.

Lips quirking in a self-depreciating smile, he said, “She would sometimes wake me up. Wouldn’t let me speak though. Otherwise I didn’t know much of anything until you stepped foot into the kingdom.”

Joshua grabbed his hand, folding his fingers through Jeonghan’s, “You’re awake now. You won’t ever go back to being cursed.” He bit his lip, not quite sure if this would help, “It’ll take some time to get used to it but nothing bad will happen to you.”

“Promise?” His eyes shone.

Whether it was with unshed tears or happiness, Joshua didn’t know. All he knew was that Jeonghan said it so quietly that it hurt Joshua on some level.

“I’ll do my best,” Joshua whispered back, “that much I can promise.”

Faintly, Jeonghan smiled at him. “That’s more than anyone has ever given me. I’ve had empty promises a plenty. Saying that you’ll do your best is a change.”

Joshua kept his face from falling. He wanted to frown but nothing good come out of it, so he smiled brightly instead. “Let’s go eat and then I’ll drop you off at the office so you can get started on those lessons. You’ll be on your feet and doing things soon enough.”

Jeonghan nodded. “Yes. Changes are always worthwhile. Or so my father told me.”

“Some are,” Joshua said, pulling Jeonghan back inside the house.

He nodded. Joshua waking him up was perhaps the best change. A chance at life and a love that wouldn’t be marred with royal politics and wonders if he wanted Jeonghan just for his title or his money. Jeonghan had none of that now and Joshua seemed reluctant to even take him in. But it only meant that Jeonghan would work hard to woo him.


	16. Home?: Blue's a Wonderful Cure

“Blue really missed you,” Chan said, smiling as the dog slobbered his owner.

Joshua laughed, letting the Labrador smother him in dog saliva. “Well, I was a bit busy this time. I’m back now. On vacation, even.”

 “Good,” he teased, “I don’t want you or your dog to darken the doorstep of our business.”

He shook his head, gently pushing Blue to sit. “You’re lucky you’re the owner’s son or else I wouldn’t take this sort of treatment.”

“Did you bring a prince back this time?” He asked.

Chan was largely curious about Joshua’s line of work. Sometimes he wondered if he wanted to join the agency. But he was young. Whatever he decided it would depend on how he passed training.

“Something of the sort,” Joshua said, gently putting Blue’s leash on.

“How about huge monsters? Did you fight any?” Chan pushed forward on the counter, looking at Joshua with sparkling eyes.

Smirking at him, Joshua shook his head. “Classified business. I’ll see you around town Chan. Don’t bother the other detectives yea?”

“You all never tell me the good stuff anyhow,” he muttered, a bit annoyed.

“Classified,” Joshua said with a laugh. “You have to get used to that.”

* * *

 

Joshua had run all of the errands he had needed to before going back to the office to pick up Jeonghan.

The prince had a rather pensive look on his handsome face, as if he were trying to figure things out but nothing clicked in his mind.

“Rough first day,” Joshua probed gently.

“Of the sort,” Jeonghan said quietly, looking out the window.

Humming, Joshua nodded in sympathy. “I might have a cure for that.”

“A kiss,” Jeonghan asked, his face brightening at the thought.

Joshua would’ve choked in surprised if he wasn’t used to really weird, out-of-the-blue things happening to him in his line of work. “No,” he chuckled. “Nothing of that sort of comfort.”

“Pity,” he said, throwing himself back into the chair. “A kiss from a lovely person would’ve perked me up rather well.”

“It’s more of the fun variety. You need some exercise anyhow, sleeping all those years doing nothing.”

Jeonghan made a noise in his throat. “Are you calling me fat?”

Snickering, Joshua continued to drive them home. “If the shoe fits your highness.”

Jeonghan turned his nose, ignoring Joshua for the scenery.

“But no. It’s more like you’re no longer muscled or at least used to things I think. He’ll give you a great workout.”

“He?”

“You’ll see,” Joshua smiled.

* * *

 

Jeonghan groaned, throwing himself on the grass, ignoring the dog who hovered over him.

Joshua sat on his chair, laughing at how quizzical Blue looked. He must’ve wondered how this new human got tired so quickly. “Would you like some juice Jeonghan? Quench your thirst?”

“Your dog,” he panted, slowly getting up, “is really energetic.”

“Blue’s good for exercise, a hug, cuddles. He’s good for a lot of things.” Joshua smiled lovingly as Blue trotted over to him. Smoothing down the golden fur, he said, “Blue is a good cure for your own blues even.”


	17. Home: Progress is Great

Jun grinned down at Joshua who just sat down at the table.  “Welcome back detective. Brought back another prince I see.”

Joshua snorted. “You forgot that you brought one back too.” He raised his eyebrow at Jun, who finally sat down to join Joshua. “One that didn’t leave your home.”

Jun busied himself with his menu, trying very badly to make it seem like he wasn’t blushing. “Wonwoo has nothing to do with this.”

“Then don’t bring up Jeonghan,” Joshua retorted. “Bringing back strays is just a side effect of the job.”

“Like a dusty desk full of paperwork that needs to be processed so the case files can be put away,” Jun chuckled, remembering how Joshua’s desk was a mess as he passed it on his way out of the office earlier.

“Vacation Junnie,” Joshua yawned. “I’m due back in next week anyhow to start clearing away paperwork and finally close the cases that I couldn’t before I got pulled into the field.”

“I’m just glad I can get into the field again,” he murmured, rotating his shoulder. Jun had taken a fall during his last case, dislocating his shoulder, which grounded him in the office as he recovered.

Shooting him a look, Joshua asked, “It’s all good to go? Doctor cleared you?”

Jun stuck his tongue out at him. “Of course, mother hen. Clean bill of health. I’ve been working out too, just to get back into shape.”

Joshua nodded, nudging Jun with his foot as the waiter arrived to take their orders. “Good. Being confined to the desk is weird for any of us.”

* * *

“I saw them prepping your prince for some exercise,” Jun said his mouth around his straw. “Combat training I think. Trying to gauge his skills.”

“Not my prince,” Joshua muttered, taking a forkful of potatoes and egg. They had brought Jeonghan’s sword back. A memento that sliced and diced.

Laughing, Jun shook his head. “Sure. Not from what his vibe is saying.”

“You never learned to read people well,” Joshua teased, poking fun at Jun’s old weakness.

Jun squawked. “I’m hurt! How could you?!”

“Tell the truth?” Joshua asked, a smirk on his face.

He clutched at his heart, dramatically leaning back into his chair. “I’m dying. My favorite hyung killed me.”

Joshua kicked at a chair leg, startling Jun out of his position. Snorting, he settled in the chair. “You won’t die. You have Prince Wonwoo to wake you up.”

Jun blushed like a tomato.

* * *

Joshua walked into the building, nodding and greeting his coworkers and friends. He waved Jun off to his desk. He had a prince to pick up.

Quietly, he pushed open the door to the gym. All field agents trained there.

Metal clangs rang through the air. Jeonghan was going toe to toe with one of the other strays a detective had brought back from a case. Ben trained swordsmanship. A weird thing when they thought about it in terms of modern times but half of these magical kingdoms weren’t modern so they never knew when they had to pick up a sword to defend themselves.

Jeonghan swung, grinning as he drove Ben back.

Joshua could see the sweat he worked up as it covered his face and the tshirt he wore was stained, clinging to his body.

Ben fought back, making Jeonghan work to defend himself.

Ducking, Jeonghan kicked at his feet, causing him to stumble. Jeonghan took the chance to knock Ben’s sword out of his hands. It skidded off to the side.

A bit like Joshua’s heart actually, which took a lurch as he watched Jeonghan sword fight. Oh god, did he feel a blush coming on? Was his cheeks getting red?!

Jeonghan laughed, sheathing his sword. “Good fight.”

Ben nodded, smiling back. “You’re quite skilled.”

“Well, I was once the best swordsman in my country.”

Ben spotted Joshua. “Someone’s here to pick you up. Our session is done for the day. I’ll see you tomorrow Jeonghan.”

“Of course.” Jeonghan gave him a short bow before turning to Joshua, giving Joshua a bright smile.

Joshua’s heart thumped.


End file.
